Integrating Snowfall Press API

[anejunkie]

We are selling digital products but the purchaser is also sent a physical copy of the book using Snowfall Press. We would like to know whether E-junkie can communicate with the Snowfall Press API (e.g http://bit.ly/MK234S) so that the customer receives the correct downloads (e.g. PDF/zip downloads and free gifts in pdf format) along with the physical book which is shipped via the Snowfall Press API. Is this possible through e-junkie or will we have to build that functionality ourselves?

[E-junkie_Guru]

You might be able to handle the download end of things using our built-in download delivery feature:

http://www.e-junkie.com/ej/help.file-downloads.htm



Sending order details to Snowfall would need to use our custom/3rd-party Integration feature:

http://www.e-junkie.com/ej/help.integration.htm



If Snowfall Press already accepts PayPal IPN, they should be able to accept our IPN-style Integration transmissions with little or nor modification. Otherwise, you would need to have a custom script on your site that accepts our Integration data and resubmits it to Snowfall in whatever format they require. If you'd need some help setting that up, we can recommend the competent, E-junkie-experienced developers listed at the "developer directory" link at the very top of our site.

[snowfallpress]

I am from Snowfall Press.



We do accept PayPal IPN but only from PayPal. Calls coming from other servers would fail authentication.



Admittedly the current PayPal code is very close to being able to authenticate using the hash of the email and the hash of the password provided with e-junkies IPN call and we may be able to add this in the future.



At present there is a simple and way to accomplish the same result.



Create single web page (PHP, etc.. depending on your server and development preference).

Have the e-junkie IPN call go that page, then call the Snowfall Press Gateway server with using the Snowfall Press standard API.



This is what we have recommended in order to get the immediate project running.

[anejunkie]

SnowfallPress...Create single web page (PHP, etc.. depending on your server and development preference). Have the e-junkie IPN call go that page, then call the Snowfall Press Gateway server with using the Snowfall Press standard API.

I truly thank you for the suggestion. This is exactly what we had in mind. Or, we planned to use Magento instead of e-junkie, since the shopping cart can apparently integrate with Snowfall. But this seems to be overkill because we will only be selling 1 product along with a few "free downloadable gifts". It seems that creating a single PHP page that calls to both makes sense.



The only problem is that I believe the Snowfall API also attempts to send callbacks to indicate the product was shipped, etc. So theoretically we would need another page (or at least PHP functions on the same page) to accept those calls and process them. Otherwise, we will be unable to display shipment tracking to the buyers, correct? Because as far as e-junkie.com is concerned, the transaction is complete once PayPal confirms payment and the electronic items are downloaded.



Am I correct in my thought process, E-junkieGuru / SnowfallPress?

[snowfallpress]

We can send shipment confirmations directly.



This feature is not in full release at this point. Send me email directly for more details.

[anejunkie]

SnowfallPressWe can send shipment confirmations directly.



This feature is not in full release at this point. Send me email directly for more details.

Okay, so we do not need to immediately worry about the callbacks and will proceed with e-junkie. Oh and of course, create a PHP page ourselves to trigger both E-Junkie's system and Snowfall Press's system. Or, we can alternately hire an E-junkie-experienced developers listed in the "Developer Directory" as suggested by E-junkieGuru.



Thank you guys so much for the fantastic support from both parties! I'll email directly, SnowfallPress, for further details.

[E-junkie_Guru]

Just to clarify, the custom PHP page/script suggested by Snowfall would receive IPN data from E-junkie once the buyer's checkout payment is already completed and we've already processed the order in whatever ways we can (e.g., issue download links, log order details, send emails); that custom script would simply receive the order data from us and retransmit it to Snowfall via their standard API method.

[snowfallpress]

Yes. That is correct.

[anejunkie]

E-junkieGuru,



In the Snowfall Press API, it's possible to place test orders. Is there a way to initiate a test order from E-junkie to ensure our custom PHP works properly?



(For others who may want to know how to make test orders using the Snowfall Press API, put the attribute "test" with a value of "TRUE" in the <bookOrder> element.)

[E-junkie_Monster]

For testing purposes you could place a $0.00 order through our cart buttons, either with a product priced at $0 or by using a special discount created for testing. We go over some general tips about placing test orders here:

http://www.e-junkie.com/ej/help.test.htm

[anejunkie]

I am unable to create a way to discount the product. We will be using the Buy Now button but there is no place to create discounts (See http://bit.ly/OAXg6Z). I even tried to the instructions listed to set up a Discount Code (http://www.e-junkie.com/ej/help.discounts.htm) but there is not a "Seller Admin > Add / Edit E-junkie Cart Discounts / Gift Coupons" link.

[E-junkie_Monster]

Buy Now buttons do not allow 100% discounts or free products, but for testing purposes you can just get the link for a product out of the Add to Cart button code provided in our system, you don't even need to put that on a page anywhere... just copy out the URL provided within the button code and paste it into the address bar on your browser.



That will open up an instance of our shopping cart, which will include a place for you to enter a discount code that buyers on your site would never see.



As for creating the discount itself, that is not done within the product configuration screen you took a shot of. That's done from the Seller Admin screen. The link for creating discounts can be found on the right hand side of that screen. The Seller Admin screen is where you start out, before you even get into the product configuration. You can return there at any time by clicking the Seller Admin link in the upper portion of the page.

[anejunkie]

Thank you for the detailed response.



I created two discount codes and neither one of them worked when applying them to the buy now button. I completed a successful transaction, and the discount code was listed while using PayPal, but the amount wasn't changed. I tried discounting to 10¢, 99%, single item and the entire cart. None of these options worked.

[anejunkie]

Using the instructions you provided, which included copying the E-junkie Shopping Cart button, I was able to get the promotion code to work. (Although the shipping was just as much as the product, so I suppose I will look for how to adjust the shipping.) However, we were more interested in using the Buy Now button because we are selling only 1 item. The discount does not appear to work when using the Buy Now button. The only modification I made to the <form> was the input image (button) so that it fits the scheme of our website.

[E-junkie_Monster]

Buy Now buttons are very limited in the discounts they can accept due to their nature. If you're trying to process a free order to test the data we send out to an outside party I recommend using Add to Cart buttons to start the order for testing purposes. Buy Now buttons cannot process free orders at all.



If you are looking to offer discounts through your Buy Now button for your buyers, see our help page here for an explanation of what kind of discounts will work and which ones will not:

http://www.e-junkie.com/ej/faq.discounts.buy-now.htm

[anejunkie]

Thank you for your response.



I wish to use the Buy Now button without the discount code. Instead, I would like it to calculate the shipping and tax properly. Using the cart code, it is calculated properly. However, it does not work properly using the Buy Now code.



Is there a way I can pay for E-Junkie support to correct this? We have run out of time and really need this to function correctly.

[E-junkie_Monster]

Actually, if you wish to apply shipping and sales tax costs to an order you will not be able to use our Buy Now buttons. Buy Now buttons are specifically intended for those situations where you do not need to do that, so there's nothing for you to gain in using them in this situation.



Features such as discounts, shipping and sales tax require our shopping cart, this is the extra step before we send an order to checkout where we can determine enough information about each buyer to apply the appropriate cost before we send that finalized total to your payment processor. In this case, we will ask the buyer to enter their country and postal code information, which we will use to determine what costs or taxes apply to them according to your settings.



You can only take advantage of these features by using our recommended Add to Cart/View Cart buttons.



That will also make it easier for you to run $0 test orders through our system which can be used to test with SnowFall Press' system. Since we're already sending the information in a similar format to what they already accept from PayPal directly the only thing that needs to be resolved is for them to accept that same information from us.